Junior rider Valentina Strobl and Young rider Diana Porsche edged out the field at the 2015 CDI Lamprechtshausen in Austria on 4 - 6 September 2015, proving that they had home ground advantage with each rider dominating both the team and individual tests in their respective division.
Valentina Strobl and the 12-year old mare Cypria F (by Contender) won the team test on 67.568%, lifting their score to 68.421% in the Individual. The youngster told Eurodressage she was not expecting to do so well.
"She was awesome to ride on both days," said Valentina. "I was very surprised by the results!"
Riding five days a week, Valentina will head home from Lamprechtshausen to work more on becoming one with her horse during the test.
"I hope to learn to ride with self-confidence and relaxation," she explained.
With another gelding also in work, Valentina hopes to continue improving with her horses and one day compete at the European Championships.
"I am training with Ute Wachs in Austria, and I also attend high school at HAK Worgl. I'm not sure at the moment if I will make riding my profession, but I think it's more likely I will pursue a profession in something like Event Management," she said.
Young Rider winner Diana Porsche and her experienced 11-year old Hanoverian stallion Eloy (by Earl) scored 70.842% and 71.895% to make a clean sweep. The Austrian based rider also finished second in both these tests on her 11-year old mare Florencia (by Furst Heinrich).
“My mare is much more confirmed this season and I can start to ask for more expression," Diana told Eurodressage. "In the years before I always had to take care that more expression didn’t turn into too much tension, but now I feel that I can start to ask for her full potential. Eloy is a real man. Oh my God he was so hot in the warm up. I really thought I would never enter the arena. Lucky for us in the warm up we found a way to cool him down and at the end he was better than ever before.”
Diana had a strong feeling that it would be possible to get more than 70% with both her horses because she felt they were on brilliant form in training the days before. She was very happy to achieve that goal!
Trained by Dieter Laugks in Munich, Germany, since 2012, Diana did her first M-level dressage test under his guidance that same year and one year later won her first Prix St Georges.
“He pays special attention to the daily and correct gymnastics for our horses. He teaches me to get the right feeling for any movement and to switch between relaxation and positive tension," she explained. "Apart from this we always try to keep the balance between work and fun. On the one hand we are working very concentrated and on the other hand I give them days, just hacking in the woods. This season I started to compete in U25 Grand Prix Tests with my horse Di Sandro and our main focus is to improve the Grand Prix tests with Di Sandro while Florencia is still learning all the Grand Prix movements with Dieters help.”
Based at Gut Ising near by Chiemsee, Diana has also just finished her A-levels and is happy that her parents have granted her a year just to focus on her riding.
“For 2016 our main focus is to qualify again for the European Championships for Young Riders and also compete Di Sandro (and maybe Florencia as well) in the U25 Grand Prix competitions," she added.
by Sarah Warne
Related Links
Scores 2015 CDI Lamprechtshausen
Eloy Sold to Austrian Junior Rider Diana Porsche